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Operating since November in São Paulo, the new project scans the irises of Brazilians and offers cryptocurrencies to participants, generating controversy over data privacy
Since November 13, 2024, a new project has been scanning the irises of Brazilians at checkpoints throughout São Paulo. The initiative is co-created by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and has already reached the mark of 115 thousand people scanned, according to company data passed on to g1 this Wednesday (11).
The “World” – name of the project – also reported that 519 thousand Brazilians have account on World App, the application that allows transactions with the cryptocurrency distributed after iris recognition.
Everything happens without charging a fee, and collections are made at 20 points in the capital of São Paulo, including a kiosk at the Boulevard Tatuapé Shopping Mall, in the East Zone. In this way, the new project scans the iris of Brazilians as a way of creating a kind of “digital identity”, providing access to 25 tokens of the virtual currency itself, equivalent to around R$470.
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Iris scanning initiative sparks controversy
Despite its technological appeal and the promise of rewards, the initiative is not without controversy. The scan creates a unique numerical code for each person, and even though the original iris image is erased, some experts question the lack of clarity about how the data generated is used.
Rafael Zanatta, director of Data Privacy Brasil, suggests that Tools for Humanity, a World partner, create a Civil Advisory Board with human rights experts to ensure privacy and accountability in the handling of this information.
ANPD is watching
The National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) is keeping an eye on the matter: one day before the official launch of the program in November, it began an inspection process to understand how this data is being collected and used.
The ANPD says it is currently evaluating the documentation provided by the company. Meanwhile, the new project to scan the iris of Brazilians remains active, reinforcing the debate on the boundary between innovation, privacy and the limits of the use of biometric data.
In addition to Brazil, World operates in the United States, Mexico and Germany
In countries such as Spain and Portugal, the service was temporarily paused on the project's own initiative. World's goal is simple but ambitious: to differentiate human beings from robots created by artificial intelligence, something that, according to the company, already surpasses the famous Captcha test.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, argues that the technology can even be useful in global democratic processes and, in the future, help distribute a universal basic income.
On the other hand, critics argue that the idea of collecting such sensitive data demands much more transparency. Even though the company guarantees security through advanced encryption (AMPC), storing code fragments in universities and trusted partners, discomfort persists.
Could the new project that scans the irises of Brazilians become a tool of control or discrimination over time? That is the question that hangs in the air, as technology and ethics clash in an increasingly complex arena.
